(no subject)
I think I'm going to break down and visit a doctor soon. This is nothing short of miraculous, as I really can't stand doctors, since my experiences with them all reveal them to be incompetent, money-hungry, or tricksters on the level of the Norse god Loki. I go out of my way to avoid them, but I'm really at a loss. I've had this rash on my foot since October, that is just not going away, but is, in fact, spreading to other parts of my feet and getting worse. Not sure what the cause of it is, though I vaguely and prooflessly suspect it may be the new shoes I bought for work. Irregardless--which is NOT a word. Not not not. And fuck you for thinking it IS, Firefox Auto-Spell Check. Now I KNOW you are full of balls. I'm going to go right back to spelling it "signifigant" because apparently I can't trust you. People may SAY Irregardless, but it is still NOT a word, and hence, can not be a correct spelling--I'm really really tired of my feet being itchy and possibly infected with something. OTC products have done nothing at all; I am at a loss.
I may actually find a doctor to see. Momentous. Podiatrist or dermatologist. Hmm.
For no particular reason other than that I was thinking about it at work, I now present my list of things Society Wants Me To Be Concerned About, But I Am Not.
1) Environmentalism.
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not anti-environment. I don't think we should drill in ANWR or anywhere else that is protected or potentially harmful. I full support the turn of society towards greater use of solar, wind, and water power. I wish more places had capable mass transit public transportation. I have curly-Q lightbulbs in my apartment (Bee-Tee-Dubs, they are AMAZING. I used to change my lightbulbs CONSTANTLY because they died so often, but I've had these for almost two years and not one has burned out). I just mean the rampant "everyone must go all green all the time" stuff. You know what? I don't want to recycle, and I never will unless I'm threatened with stiff fines and lock-up, but guess what? Even then, I will do everything in my power to not really do it. Yes, it actually is too annoying for me to have to separate things and wash them out. That makes me sound terrible, but I don't care. When I'm done with something that can't be donated to Goodwill, it is garbage. It goes in the garbage. I don't care if it is an apple core, a newspaper, or a tin can. When I'm done, it all goes in the same place. I will happily BUY recycled products--I think that's fantastic--just don't ask me to do it. And don't even CONSIDER charging me to recycle or making me buy the bins. When I think about THAT racket, I can understand why people snap and go on rampages.
And also, I hate idiotic environmentalism that just leads to bigger and worse problems. 'Sup, ethanol? Thanks for jacking up the cost of food several-fold. That was pretty awesome, and tremendously short-sighted, all so we could get gas for 20 cents cheaper for far less than one percent of the cars on the road. Willie Nelson, you're a genius. Also, new environmentally-"friendly" car batteries and lightbulbs are nightmares to dispose of, because--while they run cleaner--they are full of terrible chemicals and products that we can't just so easily throw away. So I hear, anyway, from local news reports. I could be wrong on this one.
And then there's the whole burgeoning "EATING MEAT IS KILLING OUR PLANET" Vegetarian-environmentalism, with such ridiculously unfounded and baloney statements like "feeding a family of four a steak dinner is akin to driving your Hummer 100 miles while leaving all your lights and appliances on at home". Hearing statements like this makes me want to fuck every vegetarian in the ass. And I don't mean that like "mess with them", I mean HAVE SEX IN THEIR BUTT. Because, given that that is where their brain and logic centers are, I might be able to kill them all by doing it. Really? Cow farting? This is the biggest crisis of the world? And it's so hypocritical; the vegetarian movement being based around "we can't kill animals to eat them! It is MORALLY WRONG!" is now saying "Stop eating cows so we can kill all them so they stop farting!" Cow farts are destroying our planet. This makes my brain want to die.
Hey, I know. Maybe we can recycle the cow farts, or turn them into some kind of impractical car fuel. Think about, greenheads.
2) Terrorism
Here's what I think. Say a large family was on vacation on the road, and they were plowed into intentionally and all killed by someone driving a green pick-up truck. Why, eight years later, when no other families have been killed by murderers driving green pick-up trucks, should I still care about the dangers of green pick-up trucks? Why is the government rounding up anyone they can that drives a green pick-up truck and detaining them, regardless of what THEY THEMSELVES have done? Why are we pulling people aside who want to buy green pick-up trucks and making them go through extra-detailed security? Why did we go to war with people who drive blue sedans over it?
Did that make any sense?
People still talking about NINE-ELEVEN! and TERRORISM! and RADICAL ISLAM! to me are almost quaint. It's like my great grandmother who hid all her money in her mattress and fruit cellar because she was afraid the banks would all close in the night, taking her money, or someone running around warning me that we will all get polio and die. It's archaic, and it bores me, and I don't care. I remember September 11th, 2001. I remember the flood of emotions and devastation that came with it. I remember how I felt and what I wanted to happen.
I remember getting picked on by bullies in middle school, too, but I don't live my life in dire fear of them all these years later. And I never recommended that the government go to war with the people who live a few houses down from the bullies over it. Or pull people who looked like the bully out of line at airports.
I don't still care about the Lincoln assassination. I don't still care about Pearl Harbor. I don't still care about AIDS in America. And I don't still care about 9-11. It already happened. It sucked, It was almost a decade ago. I don't think Muslims are inherently evil, and I never will.
3) Illegal Immigration.
Go to hell, Lou Dobbs. Just quit talking. This is not a problem I am concerned with.
Here's the thing: if you are actually concerned about illegal immigrants taking American jobs or whatever, then quit going after the IMMIGRANTS. On top of the fact that I could care less about going after people trying to make a better life for themselves, it is meaningless. It's like seeing a cloud of mosquitoes, and swatting your hand at it. You might get one or two, but you won't really accomplish anything. Go after the corporations and companies hiring the undocumented and paying them under-the-table for substandard wages. This will actually stop the problem.
But no. No one wants to do that. Because that doesn't give us the good ol' sense of AMERICAN PRIDE that hassling some Mexicans does. We don't want to go after AMERICAN COMPANIES that have created the "problem". We want to build a fence. We want gun turrets along the border. Really, we just want a legal reason to be racist and go after people who don't look like us.
But oh no! The unemployment rate is high, and all these non-Americans are taking our jobs!
BFD. They are still WORKING. The jobs are still getting done. And they are still buying things and purchasing, so they are still contributing and paying taxes. They are people, and maybe that's where my problem is: I don't believe I'm extra special because I was born in-between a set of imaginary boundary lines. I don't think that I am any better than anyone else because I am American. I am a human being. I want the best for all human beings. Whoever is doing poorly deserves some kind of help. Not JUST Americans.
(DIGRESSION)
I get into this with my dad all the time, and his whole "FUCK THE N'S IN AFRICA! I DON'T CARE ABOUT GENOCIDE OR AIDS OR ANYTHING! BRING THAT MONEY HOME TO HELP AMERICANS!" This is not a world view I can imagine having. Now, I'm not pro-Africa or anything; I'm no Bono. I could give two craps about what is happening there, but I do recognize it is a problem, and international help is needed to sort it out. But I don't care just about Americans and "our" problems. I think anyone that needs help should get it. At the end of the day, no matter what you believe, we all end up in the same place. We're all going to be in the same heaven. Or the same soulless dirt plot. Or banging the same 72 virgins. Or the same reincarn....Wait, okay. THAT one doesn't work, but there's no guarantee you are going to end up back in the same imaginary borders you were before.
And what I really want to know is...why is that all the people who wave 18 flags and go on and on and on about AMERICA! and AMERICANS! and OLD GLORY! and blah blah blah the same people who hate and distrust the government? The government IS America. You know what America is? Imaginary borders, containing a bunch of people under one GOVERNMENT. If you hate the government and politicians so much...what are you so proud of? It can't be OTHER Americans, since the same people are the ones who hate blacks and hate gays and hate liberals. So...is it really just the flag? What? Your undying loyalty is to a piece of dyed cloth? Good for you, psychopath.
So...now that I think about it, maybe #3 shouldn't have been "Illegal Immigration". Maybe it should have been "Patriotism/Jingoism".
I may actually find a doctor to see. Momentous. Podiatrist or dermatologist. Hmm.
For no particular reason other than that I was thinking about it at work, I now present my list of things Society Wants Me To Be Concerned About, But I Am Not.
1) Environmentalism.
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not anti-environment. I don't think we should drill in ANWR or anywhere else that is protected or potentially harmful. I full support the turn of society towards greater use of solar, wind, and water power. I wish more places had capable mass transit public transportation. I have curly-Q lightbulbs in my apartment (Bee-Tee-Dubs, they are AMAZING. I used to change my lightbulbs CONSTANTLY because they died so often, but I've had these for almost two years and not one has burned out). I just mean the rampant "everyone must go all green all the time" stuff. You know what? I don't want to recycle, and I never will unless I'm threatened with stiff fines and lock-up, but guess what? Even then, I will do everything in my power to not really do it. Yes, it actually is too annoying for me to have to separate things and wash them out. That makes me sound terrible, but I don't care. When I'm done with something that can't be donated to Goodwill, it is garbage. It goes in the garbage. I don't care if it is an apple core, a newspaper, or a tin can. When I'm done, it all goes in the same place. I will happily BUY recycled products--I think that's fantastic--just don't ask me to do it. And don't even CONSIDER charging me to recycle or making me buy the bins. When I think about THAT racket, I can understand why people snap and go on rampages.
And also, I hate idiotic environmentalism that just leads to bigger and worse problems. 'Sup, ethanol? Thanks for jacking up the cost of food several-fold. That was pretty awesome, and tremendously short-sighted, all so we could get gas for 20 cents cheaper for far less than one percent of the cars on the road. Willie Nelson, you're a genius. Also, new environmentally-"friendly" car batteries and lightbulbs are nightmares to dispose of, because--while they run cleaner--they are full of terrible chemicals and products that we can't just so easily throw away. So I hear, anyway, from local news reports. I could be wrong on this one.
And then there's the whole burgeoning "EATING MEAT IS KILLING OUR PLANET" Vegetarian-environmentalism, with such ridiculously unfounded and baloney statements like "feeding a family of four a steak dinner is akin to driving your Hummer 100 miles while leaving all your lights and appliances on at home". Hearing statements like this makes me want to fuck every vegetarian in the ass. And I don't mean that like "mess with them", I mean HAVE SEX IN THEIR BUTT. Because, given that that is where their brain and logic centers are, I might be able to kill them all by doing it. Really? Cow farting? This is the biggest crisis of the world? And it's so hypocritical; the vegetarian movement being based around "we can't kill animals to eat them! It is MORALLY WRONG!" is now saying "Stop eating cows so we can kill all them so they stop farting!" Cow farts are destroying our planet. This makes my brain want to die.
Hey, I know. Maybe we can recycle the cow farts, or turn them into some kind of impractical car fuel. Think about, greenheads.
2) Terrorism
Here's what I think. Say a large family was on vacation on the road, and they were plowed into intentionally and all killed by someone driving a green pick-up truck. Why, eight years later, when no other families have been killed by murderers driving green pick-up trucks, should I still care about the dangers of green pick-up trucks? Why is the government rounding up anyone they can that drives a green pick-up truck and detaining them, regardless of what THEY THEMSELVES have done? Why are we pulling people aside who want to buy green pick-up trucks and making them go through extra-detailed security? Why did we go to war with people who drive blue sedans over it?
Did that make any sense?
People still talking about NINE-ELEVEN! and TERRORISM! and RADICAL ISLAM! to me are almost quaint. It's like my great grandmother who hid all her money in her mattress and fruit cellar because she was afraid the banks would all close in the night, taking her money, or someone running around warning me that we will all get polio and die. It's archaic, and it bores me, and I don't care. I remember September 11th, 2001. I remember the flood of emotions and devastation that came with it. I remember how I felt and what I wanted to happen.
I remember getting picked on by bullies in middle school, too, but I don't live my life in dire fear of them all these years later. And I never recommended that the government go to war with the people who live a few houses down from the bullies over it. Or pull people who looked like the bully out of line at airports.
I don't still care about the Lincoln assassination. I don't still care about Pearl Harbor. I don't still care about AIDS in America. And I don't still care about 9-11. It already happened. It sucked, It was almost a decade ago. I don't think Muslims are inherently evil, and I never will.
3) Illegal Immigration.
Go to hell, Lou Dobbs. Just quit talking. This is not a problem I am concerned with.
Here's the thing: if you are actually concerned about illegal immigrants taking American jobs or whatever, then quit going after the IMMIGRANTS. On top of the fact that I could care less about going after people trying to make a better life for themselves, it is meaningless. It's like seeing a cloud of mosquitoes, and swatting your hand at it. You might get one or two, but you won't really accomplish anything. Go after the corporations and companies hiring the undocumented and paying them under-the-table for substandard wages. This will actually stop the problem.
But no. No one wants to do that. Because that doesn't give us the good ol' sense of AMERICAN PRIDE that hassling some Mexicans does. We don't want to go after AMERICAN COMPANIES that have created the "problem". We want to build a fence. We want gun turrets along the border. Really, we just want a legal reason to be racist and go after people who don't look like us.
But oh no! The unemployment rate is high, and all these non-Americans are taking our jobs!
BFD. They are still WORKING. The jobs are still getting done. And they are still buying things and purchasing, so they are still contributing and paying taxes. They are people, and maybe that's where my problem is: I don't believe I'm extra special because I was born in-between a set of imaginary boundary lines. I don't think that I am any better than anyone else because I am American. I am a human being. I want the best for all human beings. Whoever is doing poorly deserves some kind of help. Not JUST Americans.
(DIGRESSION)
I get into this with my dad all the time, and his whole "FUCK THE N'S IN AFRICA! I DON'T CARE ABOUT GENOCIDE OR AIDS OR ANYTHING! BRING THAT MONEY HOME TO HELP AMERICANS!" This is not a world view I can imagine having. Now, I'm not pro-Africa or anything; I'm no Bono. I could give two craps about what is happening there, but I do recognize it is a problem, and international help is needed to sort it out. But I don't care just about Americans and "our" problems. I think anyone that needs help should get it. At the end of the day, no matter what you believe, we all end up in the same place. We're all going to be in the same heaven. Or the same soulless dirt plot. Or banging the same 72 virgins. Or the same reincarn....Wait, okay. THAT one doesn't work, but there's no guarantee you are going to end up back in the same imaginary borders you were before.
And what I really want to know is...why is that all the people who wave 18 flags and go on and on and on about AMERICA! and AMERICANS! and OLD GLORY! and blah blah blah the same people who hate and distrust the government? The government IS America. You know what America is? Imaginary borders, containing a bunch of people under one GOVERNMENT. If you hate the government and politicians so much...what are you so proud of? It can't be OTHER Americans, since the same people are the ones who hate blacks and hate gays and hate liberals. So...is it really just the flag? What? Your undying loyalty is to a piece of dyed cloth? Good for you, psychopath.
So...now that I think about it, maybe #3 shouldn't have been "Illegal Immigration". Maybe it should have been "Patriotism/Jingoism".